Recorded at the end of a long and distinguished career, Austrian conductor Josef Krips ' early-'70s stereo Philips' recording of Mozart 's last 20 symphonies with the Dutch Concertgebouw Orchestra was one of the touchstones of the Concertgebouw Orchestra* - The Great Symphonies 21-41 for decades.

Grand but fine-grained, colorful but subtly blended, straightforward but stylishly elegant, bright-eyed but warmhearted, Krips and the Concertgebouw perform the impossible trick of balancing Mozart 's music between the human and the sublime.

And while much of the glamour of these performances seemed to fade with the rise of the period instrument, in this smartly remastered Decca six-disc collection, Krips and the Concertgebouw sound as strong, vital, and persuasive as ever. And those who only know and admire the slimmer and, some would say, slighter Hogwood and Pinnock recordings should definitely check out Krips.

KRIPS CONDUCTS MOZART: THE GREAT SYMPHONIES NOS. Perhaps it’s best to think of this set as a “period” relic, an example of how Mozart was played in mid-century and therefore a source of historical interest, and for those with open minds and ears a source of musical pleasures often preferable to the ferocity to which these scores are sometimes subjected today.

May 04, · One of these discs is the title at hand, featuring delightful recordings of Mozart's last two symphonies by Josef Krips and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. (These same performances are available on the Philips Mozart Symphony Boxed Set featuring Sir Neville Marriner's recordings of the early Symphonies, and Krips' accounts of Symphonies /5(7).

All-in-all, Krips most joyous successes are in the early-middle period (K through K) symphonies, although the Prague is very well done, as is the great K; but the dark K and the heroic Jupiter seem to play away from Krips' strengths as a joyous Mittleeurpoean Maestro/5(16).

Nov 27, · Krips conducts Symphonies , or 6 discs worth: 50% of this set of Mozart Symphonies. The Concertgebouw Orchestra plays beautifully, as you would expect, and have the perfect sense of Mozart's style, served so well and warmly by Krips' conducting. Krips' Mozart deserves to stand with the other "greats" in the Mozart later symphonies/5(11).